EDITORIAL | Keep the knee-jerk racism as well as the looters at bay

True character quickly rises to the surface when humans are under pressure. Durban residents this week set up community checkpoints to protect themselves from violent looters. It quickly spiralled into an “us and them” situation, eclipsing what was probably a well-intended, spontaneous reaction driven by fear and lack of faith in the police to keep them safe. But it has already started revealing a much more disturbing side of our psyche.

Some areas of KwaZulu-Natal are in the midst of food and fuel shortages after riots swept through the province. People have been scrambling to find basic foodstuffs. Hundreds of people spent hours in snaking queues on Thursday morning when shops reopened. Some neighbourhoods took the law into their own hands, only allowing residents to shop at stores located in their suburbs. In the north of Durban, people were informed they would only be allowed into certain supermarkets with proof of address and their IDs. The proof of address system is nothing less than a disguised pass law system. As well as being illegal, these actions hark back to the dark ages of segregation.

So many uplifting stories have emerged in the past few days of citizens standing together against criminality.

eThekwini mayor Mxolisi Kaunda said only the police had the power to set up roadblocks. He believed WhatsApp messages inciting violence against Indian and white communities had fuelled fear and prompted residents to put initiatives in place to protect themselves. He said he himself was stopped at such a roadblock. 

“But why are they doing this? It’s because there is fear. They have heard these messages and they think that police are not seen around, so therefore we must mobilise ourselves and defend our property and lives. But in doing that, some of them have committed crime. The right of association is provided in the constitution. 

“What becomes wrong is when we start putting a race card in that. Therefore when an African comes, he is the one who must be scrutinised; when another racial group comes, no, you can pass. When you have a fear, you suspect everything that comes before your eyes.”

Kaunda was surprisingly generous in his observations. A lack of visible policing helped create the problem. Not to mention WhatsApp messages spewing racial hatred. But an eye-for-an-eye response is not the answer.

These knee-jerk reactions are illegal and divisive at a time when South Africans need to find constructive ways to unite against lawlessness. So many uplifting stories have emerged in the past few days of citizens standing together against criminality. In some areas, residents started a barter system to help each other through the food shortages. That is the way to do it.

President Cyril Ramaphosa in his address to the nation on Monday said people were seeking to agitate for violence and disorder along ethnic lines. “We know that the majority of our people have out of principle refused to be mobilised along these lines,” he added.

It is not too late for the problematic pockets in KwaZulu-Natal to undo their actions that have taken us more than just two steps back. As people start feeling threatened, their latent prejudices come to the fore. This is the hour that should bring out the best in us, not the worst. Now should be the time South Africans stop reverting to their default setting of racism the moment they feel under threat.